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Rhys Millen drives Hyundai Genesis to Pikes Peak course record

1 of 5Winner Rhys Millen was the overall winner on Sunday at Pikes Peak.

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2 of 5The black Barracuda of Jess Neal took the Vintage Automobile Division at Pikes Peak with a time of 12:03.858, more than 23 seconds quicker than the nearest rival.

Photo by Phil Greden

3 of 5Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima, the man who broke the Pikes Peak 10-minute barrier last year, didn't fare as well this time. Driving an all-electric 2012 E-Runner Pikes Peak Special, Tajima's car lasted about one mile before overheating and catching fire.

Photo by Phil Greden

4 of 5The electric car driven by Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima caught fire early into its run.

Photo by Phil Greden

5 of 5Fumio Nutahara of Japan finished sixth in an electric entry by Toyota Motorsport.

Photo by Phil Greden

Veteran Pikes Peak International Hill Climb driver and multiple-time class winner Rhys Millen, who is from Huntington Beach, Calif., drove a 2013 Hyundai Genesis coupe to the top of Pikes Peak with a course-record time of 9 minutes, 46.164 seconds on Sunday.

The record run wiped out a short-lived course record of 9:46.181, set by Romain Dumas of France just minutes earlier in the Pikes Peak Open class. Millen, in the Time Attack class, posted the best time among 170 entrants (132 finishers) in all classes.

“I drove as hard as I could,” Millen said. “The course was so slippery on the first three-quarters of the course, and I just pushed that little Hyundai Genesis as hard as we could. No warning lights, the engine ran flawlessly from the start and again to being slick to the finish on the rain, and to beat such a world champion as the Porsche team, in Dumas. This is a victory; this is my biggest victory in the past 18 years on Pikes Peak.”

Millen said that his record time was in line with his goal heading into the run.

“Me and my dad went over numbers yesterday, and we added up all of our sectors and came up with a 9:21,” Millen said. “With the sections that you don’t get to practice, I said a 9:41. Just knowing that things usually run hard on race day, I said 9:45. My previous best was last year in the Unlimited class at, I believe, a 10:07; we got second overall.”

This time around, Millen brought a production car that he had run in drift completion as recently as two weeks prior in Seattle, and his run marked the first time a production car has conquered Pikes Peak in less than 11 minutes. This is also the first year that the entire 12.42 miles of road on the course was paved, which led to quicker times, even in sometimes rainy conditions.

“We skipped 11 minutes and went straight into the nines,” he said. “This car is built for going sideways, not for going up a mountain. We just competed against the best in the world, and we beat them.”

Dumas finished second, followed by Carlin Dunne of Santa Barbara, Calif., who was third in a Ducati (9:52.819).